On the sidelines of the first-ever Kinshasa Economic Forum in March, the EU launched an initial mobilization of €50 million into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) critical minerals sector. The investment underlines just how important Congolese resources are to the rest of the world, with the country home to…
This week, President Biden hosted his first state dinner at the White House. His guest was French President Emmanuel Macron. The high-profile visit – with all of its pomp and circumstance – was officially premised on the notion that France is the United States’ oldest ally and a “vital global…
Africa is finally joining the rest of the world in providing the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccinations to its people, beginning with Rwanda and Kenya. Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Angola and Congo have also received their first vaccine doses, while Mali, Senegal, Malawi and Uganda are set to receive them later this…
The United Nations said Friday that the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo, where more Ebola response workers were killed in attacks this week in and around Beni, has become untenable for civilians and the health and humanitarian aid workers seeking to help them. Armed groups have been targeting civilians…
Fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has interfered again with response to the Ebola crisis in affected regions in the country’s east, with World Health Organization (WHO) officials warning that the violence compromises the progress made in recent months. “Following another senseless attack on civilians in eastern DRC on…
A second case of Ebola in the Congolese border city of Goma was confirmed by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, as WHO and its partners marked the one-year anniversary of an outbreak that has become a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The fatal case in Goma is…
The body of longtime Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi arrived Thursday evening in Kinshasa as his son Felix – now the nation’s president – waited expectantly at the airport. The younger Tshisekedi then accompanied the body during a formal procession that stopped at his home and at the headquarters of…
It was February 2017 when longtime Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi died in Brussels, amid the turmoil of former president Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step aside after two terms leading the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, the body of the late Tshisekedi will return to Kinshasa at last. His repatriation,…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
The World Health Organization has appointed an Emergency Ebola Response Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as it continues a fight against an Ebola outbreak that has shown no signs of abating. David Gressly, the UN’s deputy special representative serving with MINUSCO, will focus on improving access to communities…
President Felix Tshisekedi has finally named a prime minister for Democratic Republic of Congo, and it’s longtime politician Dr. Sylvestre Ilunga Ilukamba who gets the nod. The announcement of Ilukamba, most recently the head of the nation’s railway system, was made Monday in a television address. The new prime minister…
There are growing concerns that the Ebola crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 1,100 people have died since the outbreak was declared last August, will spill beyond its borders. “I’m just back from Congo and it is clear that the Ebola outbreak is getting worse, not better,…
The Ebola response in the city of Butembo, in the eastern North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo, was interrupted by violence again on Wednesday. Congolese media outlets report at least nine people dead following clashes between armed rebel groups and security forces, with some accounts putting the death…
As of Wednesday, the number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo had risen to 1,029 cases – 964 of them confirmed and 65 suspected. The Congolese Ministry of Health reported 642 deaths, on the rise in recent weeks especially in the Katwa and Butembo communities. There are…
There’s been a rise in Ebola cases in Democratic Republic of Congo following weeks of overall decline, and that’s attributed to the volatile climate in the conflict zones of North Kivu and Ituri provinces. “This rise is not unexpected and likely due, in part, to the recently increased security challenges,…
Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general for World Health Organization, said Thursday that the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been contained in 11 of the 28 communities where cases are recorded. Yet the struggle continues, amid ongoing security challenges in the North Kivu and Ituri…